Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 4:05pm

REILLY SMITH SENT TO PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired winger Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights for a third-round draft pick in 2024.

What does it give the Pittsburgh Penguins
For the Penguins, this trade adds a clutch winger for their first two lines. Smith essentially replaces Jason Zucker, a pending unrestricted free agent. Smith is coming off a Stanley Cup triumph, and should mesh well with what Pittsburgh is trying to do–return to the playoffs.

What does it give the Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights needed to move out players because they cannot afford to bring everybody back. They will try to re-sign pending UFA forward Ivan Barbashev, and this move helps them to that end. Still, Smith may be hard to replace in 2023-24.

Fantasy impact
Going from William Karlsson's line to Evgeni Malkin's line (or maybe even Sidney Crosby's unit) will not hurt Smith's fantasy value. In fact, it may get a big boost. He will need time to adjust to a new team, a new system and a new challenge, though.